Electrical terminals and especially telecommunication terminals often face moisture and highly corrosive environments. These environments cause premature failure of the electrical connections and result in increased frequency of maintenance along with higher replacement costs of terminals and electrical contacts. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,600,261, issued July 15, 1986, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,207, issued Jan. 6, 1987, solved this problem by covering the terminal with a gel contained in a gel containing means held under pressure over the terminal through a pressure maintaining means such as a nut and bolt, or a split retaining nut. More generally, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,643,924, issued Feb. 17, 1987 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,831 issued Sept. 1, 1987 describe a mirror image conforming case or cap which can optionally stretch-fit over the substrate or alternatively a gel-filled case which can clip around the substrate. The preceding four patents are completely incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
Although these methods are extremely effective for precluding moisture and corrosive environments from contacting the substrate, not all substrates or terminals and wires provide a means for securing the gel to the terminal post and wire or around the substrate. For example, certain terminal post and wire combinations may present a shape which is too irregular to be protected unless it is fully encased by gel which may be impractical or impossible. Thus, it would be highly desirable to have a gel-in-case means capable of maintaining pressure on the gel over an irregular substrate or combination of parts without fully encasing them such as a terminal post wire combination without a separate retaining means. It would also be desirable to have a case and gel combination which can set up an equilibrium situation with the substrate to avoid or minimize embrittlement thereof.